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My projects: Easter Dresses

The spring is a super busy time for us.  It starts with Kate’s birthday in March, Easter usually in April, and Rebecca & Caroline’s birthdays in May.  Everyone usually gets a new outfit for these occasions, which makes it even more busy.  This year I decided to use Kate’s birthday dress as her Easter dress, as well.

That meant I needed to decide what style of dress I wanted to make for Easter — in February!  I knew I wanted to use Thomas Knauer’s fabric in the Pear Tree collection.  What I love most about his collections is that they come in multiple colors so I can make dresses that are similar but not exactly the same for the girls.

I used a dress that I had made a few times before:  Simplicity 5695.  View D is my favorite but this time I put a spin on it.

Kate’s 5th Birthday Dress

I shortened the length of the dress a few inches to add the contrasting band of fabric before adding the ruffle layer along the bottom.  I really kind of winged it and the dresses got much better by the time I did Rebecca’s.  With Kate’s (which I made first), I didn’t realize I needed to line up the height of the contrasting band at the seams and one side is a little off.  It’s probably not too noticeable to someone who doesn’t sew, but I noticed it and now it drives me crazy.

Also, if you look at this picture:

Caroline, Rebecca, Kate (L to R)

you can see that I didn’t put elastic on Rebecca’s sleeves.  After following the directions on the pattern, I found that the elastic is too tight.  I tried to make this dress’s sleeves a little looser but by the time I got to Rebecca’s I just decided to leave them out.  This way I don’t have to worry about it shrinking or the girls outgrowing the sleeve size.

What I love about this style of dress is that it grows with the girls.  As they grow, it can be worn as a tunic and even as a shirt.  The girls will tell you that it’s a good dress to play in.  It has a lot of movement around the middle and isn’t restricting in any way.

I also made the headbands they are wearing.  They were easy to do once I scaled down the pattern.  The pattern was sized for an adult so it took some trial an error to adjust the length & width.  This was the perfect thing to use all the dress scraps for!  The girls LOVE theirs and wear them even when they don’t match their outfit!

xoxo
–k

Filed Under: designing, Uncategorized Tagged With: Uncategorized

Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ashley says

    August 10, 2012 at 1:03 am

    Sooo cute! You're quite talented my friend!

    • KristinaGrum says

      August 10, 2012 at 1:26 am

      Thanks, Ashley! I love making dresses for them. I'm about to start working on our 1st Day of School dresses next week. 🙂

  2. sewsammy says

    August 15, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    sew sweet x

    • KristinaGrum says

      August 15, 2012 at 9:32 pm

      Thanks!

  3. Jenni says

    August 16, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    I love the prints you put together! Very cute – cute models, too!

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Hi… I’m Kristina!

Kristina Grum is a Certified Parent Educator who has over a decade of experience working with children, including being a classroom teacher. She currently teaches parenting classes in her local area and writes about shifting parenthood from barely surviving to thriving. Read More…

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